"Mrg!"
Senzo stretched his whole body when he could see once again. He was finally home.
But after a good stretch, something felt off. Where is my room? I'm certain I was in my room when I left...
He turned his head around to look for it, but all he saw were ruins, and even though he was in a room, it wasn't his own.
And the walls looked like they could collapse at any moment. The ceiling had holes in it, and it was just very unpleasant to look at.
"Wait, don't tell me..."
But before he could finish, other people appeared next to him, first Magi and Yo. Then Yugiri and a small Hyoubu, and a rather large machine, which he instantly recognized as Ihachigo.
"Welcome to my world," Senzo announced, trying to lighten the mood. It was a rather bad first impression, after all.
"Uh, Senzo, were you seriously living in a place like this?" Magi asked, looking around with a disgusted look on his face.
Senzo vehemently shook his head. "Of course not, I'm not too sure myself what is going on. But I do have a suspicion."
"What suspicion?" Yo asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Well, right before I came to your world, it was mentioned that dungeons would be spawning all over Earth, so I'm pretty sure this is one."
"..."
Yo and Magi were speechless as they looked at one another with helpless expressions.
"Pfft!" Yo couldn't hold back as he started laughing uncontrollably.
And Magi could only roll his eyes after hearing what Senzo had just said.
Yugiri, on the other hand, was looking around, taking in everything the current view had to offer, but when her gaze landed on the young Hyoubu, her eyes went wide.
"Major?" she muttered, pointing her finger straight at him.
"Yep, that's me, Yugiri."
"Let's calm down first, guys; we need to properly assess the current situation and decide on a plan. We currently know nothing about this dungeon after all."
Senzo clapped his hands. He couldn't risk them getting injured because of carelessness—this time, he wouldn't sit back and take it slow.
"That's right, Yugiri. Hyoubu, get over here and stay close to us." Magi ordered. He wasn't sure what tone to use when addressing the reverted Hyoubu.
Yo couldn't help but stare a little at the now small Hyoubu. He looks so cute!? How did this little fella grow up to be such an old man?
It just didn't make any logical sense.
And just as they were about to start discussing what their next move was, they saw two more people appear.
"..."
Senzo's eyes almost popped out of his skull when he saw the two women appear in front of him.
His mind was currently a storm at sea; not a single coherent thought could be formed as he kept on staring at the two.
"Hello everyone."
Sophie meekly said, feeling all their gazes burning on her skin.
Momiji was in a similar state, feeling a little shy.
"How? How are... you two here?" Senzo barely managed to say.
"Well, we also got the question if we wanted to go with you, albeit with a twist. And we decided to accept, of course."
Sophie said, her cheeks flushing red as she thought about how the message worded it.
Momiji just nodded her head.
That's when Senzo finally snapped out of it, and in a second he appeared right in front of the two women and passionately embraced them both.
"Thank you! Thank you so much for coming along!" he exclaimed with a massive smile on his face.
Momiji and Sophie, on the other hand, were frozen by Senzo's sudden hug, their ears turning bright red, but both of them also had massive smiles plastered on their faces.
"Hehe."
After several seconds of tightly hugging them, he finally let go of them and cleared his throat a couple of times.
"Ahem, ahem."
"Now back onto the important topic: what do you all think is the best way to get through this thing we assume is a dungeon?"
"Dungeon?" Momiji echoed, taking a look around.
That's when she saw it, this dilapidated building they were currently in.
"Yes, this used to be the apartment building I was living in, I think. I assume it has changed into a dungeon. And the problem is we don't know if it actually is a dungeon, and if it is, what type of structure it will have."
"What do you all think would be the best way to go about getting out of here or maybe even clearing it?" Senzo inquired, and while he was at it, he also secured the surroundings by freezing the vectors around and above them.
Boxing himself and the others in a safe little box.
"Good question, and it looks like you haven't lost your edge, huh?" Magi stated, feeling the invisible wall with his wing.
"This situation could be much more dangerous than the fight with the USEI, so of course I won't let my guard down just because I just returned and such a pleasant surprise appeared."
"Good," Yo replied, a proud expression on his face.
"One thing is for certain: you are currently by far the strongest fighter in this group, which is both a pro and a con." Magi continued. He was now in full vice-captain mode.
Senzo and the others nodded their heads; there were a couple of options that everyone thought of, but it was hard to tell at the moment which one could be the most optimal.
"What do you think, Momiji?" Magi asked suddenly.
"Well, depending on the enemies here, I would say either have Senzo explore on his own while we stay in the box here, and if anything can break through, we try to defeat it, or we all follow Senzo while he tries to clear a path."
Magi carefully listened to the two options Momiji had suggested and gave a satisfied nod; those were also the two options he had thought of.
"I do like those two options, but you are forgetting something," Senzo interrupted, a grave expression on his face.
"There might be other people here; if it is the apartment building where I was living, a lot of other people also lived in there, and they might also be in this dungeon either trying to survive or looking for a way out."
"..."
"That's..." Magi gritted his teeth. How could I forget something so simple?
Momiji's eyes widened for a moment before regaining her usual calm; Sophie, on the other hand, could only stare at the ground, cursing at her own powerlessness.
"Well, we could just ignore them, of course, but I personally don't agree with that way of thinking, and unless the situation is so desperate that we don't have any leeway, I would like to avoid that option."
Everyone else seemed to be in agreement with Senzo's words as they all nodded.